We had the bumbling Inspector Pratt, (a tour-de-force by Byron Greenhow), whose speech was such a list of spoonerisms that he made Lloyd Grossman easy to understand and who was so stupid that as murder victims fell around him - he arrested himself! We had Miss Maple (geddit?), with Alex Briggs Dolman playing the not so sweet old lady, plus a long list of seemingly stock characters from plays of the time. However they were never what we expected. Was Lady Isadora Pollock (a lovely haughty performance from Sonya Greenhow) the posh lady she appeared? Was Count Puchlik (the ever excellent Kevin Gilbert, who also codirected) a comic Pole or a wicked Nazi? As for the silly upper-class Captain Henrietta (an excellent performance by Beverley Moffatt), who would have expected her to be a double/triple agent? The grumpy cook, Lily Tuthill, (Janet Lord at her best) also changed character completely. Even the sexy nurse (Joanne Bartlam) and the housekeeper (Jess Dash) kept us guessing.

Neil Marshall played two different characters, and was totally convincing in each. He deserved praise for his quick costume changes alone! With such a convoluted storyline and the actors changing character in mid sentence, (very impressive), I do wonder if the audience ever understood what was going on! However it didn't matter because we laughed from beginning to end.

As is usual with the MSTC, the costumes were spot on, and the many sound effects came in on time. This small enthusiastic group always achieve a high standard in their productions. Great Glen must be proud of their local players. Congratulations to them all.

Written by Vivien Window - Article printed in Harborough Mail, May 2008